Thin-place-detector-releasing means for looms.



PATENTED MAY.19,- 1908.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23, 1907.

rus NORRIS PETERS cm, wnsmmnmy. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO E. RHOADES, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COMPANY, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented m 19, 1908.

Application filed September 23, 1907. Serial No. 394,027.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALoNzo E. RHoADEs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Hopedale, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Thin Place Detector Releasing Means for Looms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like letters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates more particularly to mechanism for detecting a thin place in the cloth being woven on a loom, and it has for its object the production of means for automatically releasing or moving the thin-place detector from engagement with the cloth when the shipper is moved to stopping position.

The detector normally rests upon the cloth adjacent the fell, and when a thin place occurs the detector descends through the cloth and through suitable means the shipper is released to stop the loom. In my present invention I have provided means whereby such movement of the shipper automatically raises or disengages the detector from the cloth, so that the loom may be turned over by hand without any possibility of damage to the cloth by the thin-place detector. The mechanism is so arranged that such detector release is effected no matter by what agency the shipper is caused to be moved to stopping position, whether by hand, or automatically through a change in the operation of the loom, such for instance as the occurrence of a warp or filling fault, or by detection of a thin place in the cloth.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a partial transverse section of a sufficient portion of a loom shown as provided with an automatic warp stop-motion, and with one practical embodiment of my present invention applied to the loom, the parts being shown in their normal condition; Fig. 2 is a detail showing some of the parts in a different position from that illustrated in Fig. 1, to more clearly indicate the manner in which movement of the shipper to stopping position effects release of the thin place detector from the cloth; Fig. 3 is a detail to be described.

Referring to Fig. 1, the lay 1, cam shaft 2, having a stop-motion controlling cam O thereon, the shipper 3, and its notched holding plate 4 may be and are all of usual construction, the shipper when released acting to throw off the power from the loom and effect stoppage thereof. It will be understood that the shipper may be released by hand or by a change in the operation of the loom, such as a warp fault, to be hereinafter referred to, and while I have omitted the well known and usual filling fork, and the means for releasing the shipper upon detection of filling failure, it will be understood that such devices operate in the usual man ner to release the shipper.

The warp stop mechanism which is herein illustrated is substantially that shown in the patent to Stimpson No. 673,824, granted May 7, 1901, the slotted detectors d being hung on the warp threads and so arranged that a released detector will cooperate with and arrest a normally vibrated feelerf.

The feeler rock shaft F is connected by links 7L2, 7L with arms h, 7L respectively, as in said patent, with a follower 7L5 cooperating with the cam on the shaft 2, the latter having tappets t, t. The arms h, h are mounted on a hooked link M movable longitudinally in the direction of the arrow 100 when the feeler is arrested, all as in the Stimpson patent. Such movement of the link operates a knock-off member 6 having a cam-slot 7 at its upper end to receive the lower end of the shipper 3, said member swinging on a shaft 8 to which it is rigidly attached, the shaft being mounted to rock in suitable bearings on the cross-girth 9 of the loom. Itwill be seen also that if the shipper is released by means other than the movement of the link M just referred to, the movement of the shipper to stopping position will swing the knockoff member 6 into the same position it assumes when the warp stop-motion operates it. The end of the link M is pivotally connected with the depending end 6 of the member 6, as in the Stimpson patent.

On the shaft 8, in the present embodiment of my invention, I mount a short depending arm 10, on which is pivotally mounted at 11 a latch 12, the rear end of the latch being hooked as shown, and its forward end is provided with a cam-shaped projection 13. Upon the lay rocker-shaft 5 I mount an upturned finger or vibrator 14, so arranged that when the latch 12 is rocked on its fulcrum 11, to depress the rear end, the vibrator will engage the latter, and on the backward stroke of the lay will act through the latch to rock the shaft 8 and operatively move the knockoff member 6 in the direction of the arrow 50, Fig. 1, to release the shipper.

The operative movement of the knock-off member when effected through the latch is due to the detection of a thin place in the cloth, as will now be'described. A thin place detector 15 of any suitable construction is pivotally mounted, by means of a rock-shaft 16, on a part of the loom, such as the temple stand T, Fig. 1, the detector normally resting on the cloth 0 adjacent the fell. The shaft 16 has fast upon it an arm 17 connected by a rod or link 18 with the latch 12, and when the detector rests upon the cloth, see Fig. 1, the latch 12 will be held up by the link 18 out of the path of the vibrator 14. If now a thin lace is detected, the downturned end of t e detector 15 passesthrough the cloth, and the arm 17 is lowered,.so that the link 18 lowers the latch 12 into the path of the vibrator 14, and the knock-01f member 6 will be operatively moved, as shown in Fig. 2. In said figure the parts are shown at about the instant that the lay is fully back, and is about to move forward.

It is very desirable to disengage the detector from the cloth after detecting action, so that when the loom is turned over by hand there will be no possibility of damage to either the cloth or the detector, and it is also desirable whenever the loom is stopped that the thin-place detector be released or disengaged from the cloth.

I will now describe means whereby such release or disengagement is effected automatically whenever the shipper is moved to stopping position, it being remembered that when suc movement of the shipper occurs, there is a corresponding change in the position of the member 6 from that shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2. A short,forwardly-extended arm 19 is arran ed to move in unison with the knock-off mem er 6, and it has fulcrumed upon it at 20 a leverlike device 21, the lower end of which is arranged to at times cooperate with the camprojection 13 of the latch. The u per end of the lever 21 is herein shown as en arged at 22 to receive a plunger 23 controlled by a spring 24, shown in detail in Fig. 3, the outer end of the plunger resting on the top of the crossirth 9 when the loom is running. If a thin place is detected the latch 12 is engaged by the vibrator 14, and the knock-0H member 6 is moved as has been described to release the shipper, and referring to Fig. 2 such movement of the member 6 moves the fulcrum 20 downward, the lower end of the lever 21 at such time being ressed firmly against the projection 13, so tiat the spring 24 yields, and the plunger is retracted. This yielding arrangement prevents any breakage of the parts as the lay completes its back stroke. As soon as the lay passes back center, the pressure between the vibrator and the latch 12 is relieved and the sprin 24 then expands, depressing the lower end of the lever 21 against the cam rojection 13, and thereby lifting or tilting t e latch 12 on its fulcrum 11 to raise the link 18 and the shaft 16 is turned in the direction of the arrow 75, Fig. 2, to lift the thin-place detector 15 into dotted line position out of engagement with the cloth. Should the shipper be released by hand or by any means,

such for instance as the warp stop-motion, the knock-off member 6 is o erated as has been explained, and is move into the position shown in Fig. 2, and at such time the latch 12 is moved bodily rearwardly, but at the same time the rocking of the shaft 8 lowers the fulcrum 20 of the lever-like device 21. This brings the lower end of said device against the cam projection 13, and the latch is tilted as before described, to raise the link 18 and disengage the thin-place detector from the cloth. When the knock-off member 6 is operated by means other than cooperation of the vibrator and the latch, there is practically no compression of the-plunger springs, nor need there be at such time, as then the latch isfree to be tilted on its fulcrum 11, but when the latch and vibrator are in engagement the plunger must give or breakage or straining of the latch or the tilting device therefor would result.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, it will be manifest that no matter how the shipper may be released, its movement to stop. ing position is made efiective to release or isengage the thin place detector from the cloth.

My invention is not restricted to the particular warp stop-motion herein shown, nor to any particular thin place detecting mechanism, and the details of construction and arrangement of the present embodiment of my invention maybe varied by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having fully described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination, in a loom, of a thinplace detector, a shipper, and means operative by or through movement of the shipper to stopping position to move the thin-place detector out of engagement with the cloth.

2. The combination, in a loom, of a shipper, means to effect movement thereof to stopping position by or through a change in the operation of the loom, a detector to normally engage the cloth near the fell and detect a thin place, and means to disengage said detector from the cloth by movement of the shipper to stopping position.

3. The combination, in a loom, of a shipper, a holding device therefor, separate means to release the shi per upon the occurrence of a war fault and upon detection of a thin place in the cloth,res ectively, the thin-place detecting means inc ud'ing a detector normally engaging the cloth near the fell, and a detector releasing device operated by or through release of the shipper from its holding device.

4. The combination, in a loom, of a shipper, means, including a thin-place detector, to effect movement of the shipper to stopping position upon detection of a thin place in the cloth, means to effect such movement of the shipper independently of the first-named means, and a device to automatically disengage the thin-place detector from the cloth whenever the shipper is moved to stopping position.

5. In a loom, a shipper, a swinging knockoff member, a latch movable with and also relatively to said member, a vibrator adapted to at times engage the latch and operate the knock-off member, a thin-place detector, a connection between it and the latch to permit engagement of the latch by the vibrator when a thin place in the cloth is detected, to thereby release the shipper, and means rendered effective by operation of the knock-off member to move the latch relatively to it and disengage the thin-place detector from the cloth.

6. In a loom, a shipper, a swinging knockoff member, a latch movable with and also relatively to said member, .a thin-place detector, a connection between it and the latch, means to move the knock-off member to effect release of the shipper, and a device rendered operative by such movement of said member to engage and effect movement of the latch relatively to the knock-off member, to thereby act through the intervening connection and lift the thin-place detector from the cloth.

7. In a loom, in combination, a shipper, a swinging member abnormally positioned when the shipper is moved to stopping position, a latch movable with and also relatively to the said member and having a cam projection, a thin-place detector, a connection between it and the latch, a vibrator to engage the latch and abnormally position the swinging member when a thin place in the cloth is detected, means to abnormally position said member independently of the latch, and a device rendered operative by abnormal positioning of the swinging member to engage the cam projection and tilt the latch, to act through the connection with the detector and automatically disengage it from the cloth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALONZO E. RHOADES.

Witnesses GEORGE OTIS DRAPER, ERNEST W. Woon. 

